ROMA (ITALPRESS) – How much is prevention worth? We live longer, the aged population and chronic diseases are increasingly widespread: to stay sustainable, the health system must change pace and invent new ways of caring for people. It’s not a question for the workers alone: it’s all about us. On October 10th, the National Day of Dental Hygiene and the National Albo Commission of Dental Hygienists launches a warning: “the health of the mouth and that of the whole organism are linked to double thread”. Preventing oral cavity pathologies is a crucial goal, which calls for attention, investment and time, but repays with concrete results.
According to the World Health Organization (report WHO 2022), oral cavity pathologies affect nearly 3.7 billion people worldwide, and according to the Global Burden of Disease 2021, permanent teeth are the most frequent condition. Yet most of these diseases are preventable or tractable in the early stages.
“The attention and sensitivity to oral and general health, habits and lifestyles, awareness of the potential of prevention as well as of indispensable universal access to care, are indispensable to guarantee not only the health of the mouth, but the quality of life of people,” says Caterina Di Marco, president of the National Healthcare Commission. “A healthy mouth allows you to eat, talk, relate and live without pain. For this reason, the WHO considers oral health an integral part of the general health and well-being of the person and the World Health Organization itself has defined oral health as an indispensable asset to pursue and maintain.”.
From this point of view dental hygienist is the health figure with university education that has the specific skills to safeguard the health of the oral cavity in the different stages of life. His work goes beyond the removal of biofilm: he evaluates the risk of disease, early intercepts alterations, educates and motivates the person, customizes prevention protocols and home hygiene tools, supports change of lifestyles and accompanies the assistito over time, maintaining the results of the therapies. The path of prevention must start even before birth.
Recent scientific literature indicates pregnancy as a particularly favorable window to prevent early childhood caries, given the influence of oral health and maternal behavior on that of the child.
“Speaking about nutrition, oral hygiene and biofilm control to pregnant women is already prevention, before the first tooth appears, a path that then passes through generations from mother to child, from teenager to adult, to the elderly person” adds Di Marco. “Every person who acquires awareness of his health as well as of his own risk level of certain diseases – says Di Marco – if properly educated and guided in a virtuous path, he finds motivation and resources useful to modify lifestyles and behaviors, adopting more suitable for positive, preventive, healthy changes. With the support of a properly trained professional, prevention becomes health competence. Health is not expected: it is built”.
“As a national albo Commission – President Di Marco concludes – on this day we wish to celebrate the dental hygienist, his role and his contribution, but even more prevention, in all its nuances, as a key tool for the health and well-being of each individual, for a future free from oral cavity pathologies.”.
-Photo press office FNO TSRM E PSTRP-
(ITALPRESS).
